


There's Bones In My Closet (And You Hang Stuff Anyways)

by WishUponADragon



Series: Worlds Collide [3]
Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, general normal romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishUponADragon/pseuds/WishUponADragon
Summary: 5 times Yassen Gregorovich fell in love with Jack Starbright, and 1 time she fell for him.
Relationships: Yassen Gregorovich/Jack Starbright
Series: Worlds Collide [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049111
Comments: 15
Kudos: 31





	1. Coffee

“I didn’t take you for a decaf kind of guy,” Jack mused, looking over the brim of her coffee cup at Yassen. He hadn’t drunk that much of it, between surveying their surroundings and watching her sip on hers. “No caffeine for you?”

He picked his coffee up and twisted the paper sleeve around. “I don’t drink it. It’s an unnecessary risk.”

She couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, yeah, might get the jitters while on important business, I see.”

“Well, that too.”

Jack narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, well now I wanna know. What’s up with coffee?”

“You’ll think it’s paranoia.” He was probably wrong there. After spending a good chunk of her time restructuring the way she moved through life on Alex’s say so, from constantly changing her commute to making sure to only use water that had been through the multiple very specific filters he’d found online, there weren’t very many risks she was willing to write off, no matter how remote.

She drummed her fingers on the lid of the cup. “Tell me anyways?”

He relented under her prying gaze. “It isn’t just coffee, I don’t eat or drink much of anything with a naturally bitter flavor. It’s common to several poisons and already expecting it from food makes them harder to detect.”

“Ah.” Jack set her cup on the table. “I had not considered that.”

The assassin had absolutely no right to look that cute in that sweater. “I wouldn’t expect you to. It isn’t a common concern.”

“Still.” She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms grumpily. “That’s a lot of stuff. I guess you don’t like dark chocolate much then either?”

The corners of his mouth ticked slightly up. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it. I said I don’t eat it.”

She nodded, shifting so her fingers were steepled pensively in front of her. “I see.” She tapped her fingertips together as her brow knitted inwards. “So, if I went to that one exotic foods market, and got cocoa beans, and made it at home and pinky promised there was no poison in it, would you like that?”

“I thought you had difficulties using the kitchen?”

“Okay, so you can make it then, do you wanna do homemade chocolate or not?”

The way his eyes twinkled almost made her heart stop. “I think it would be worth trying.”


	2. Museum

The museum was one of Jack’s favorite places in the world. She loved walking it’s corridors and seeing the history and the beauty it held. And she loved the Monets best of all. 

“I could just stare at this one forever,” she said dreamily, standing in front of a tall painting of blue irises. The blond man next to her was quiet, and Jack knew he was considering not only the painting, but the people around them and the exit routes from the building. It was disconcerting sometimes, but she’d realized over the past few weeks that it was more comforting than it was scary. 

“Claude Monet was a very talented artist.” 

Jack elbowed him slightly. “Agreeing with me? Oh, how unlike you!”

“I enjoy his works,” Yassen said, his tone even rather than defensive. His eyes settled on one painting in particular to their left. “Except that one.”

“Oh? And what did ‘Garden at Giverny’ ever do to you?” Jack teased.

“That one is a fake.”

If Jack was expecting more out of him, she was sorely disappointed. “Wait, you can’t just leave it there. How do you know that?”

Yassen’s eyes flicked back to meet hers, a strange mix of subdued mischief and even subtler apprehension crossing his features. “I was the one who swapped the two out. I’m a bit surprised they left it hanging rather than report it for the insurance money, but they do have a reputation to consider. Not many people would want to loan art to a museum with a history of theft.”

She turned her attention to the painting. She was hardly an expert, but she never would have guessed. It had all of the classic Monet hallmarks, the emphasis on light tones and lack of neutral colors. It was a perfect impression of an Impressionist. “I like it.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah,” Jack decided. She looped one arm through Yassen’s and rested her head on his shoulder. “I do. I never really understood why people got so caught up in paintings being original. This one is just as much a masterpiece, and now instead of there being one in the world, there’s two. Forgery is a wonderful kind of crime, it puts more beauty into the world than there was before.”

“I thought you were going to be a lawyer?”

“Shut up and enjoy the pretty paintings with me.”


	3. The Zoo

As a general rule, Jack didn’t like snakes. They were perfectly fine on a television screen or between the pages of a book, but having a King Cobra within physical striking distance, glass or no glass, was uncomfortable. She edged closer to Yassen. “What did you say you wanted to see here?”

He wasn’t paying much attention to the animals. Instead he was inspecting the enclosures, his eyes darting rapidly from one to the next. “I was curious whether they’d upgraded their security.”

Jack crossed her arms, finally choosing to look at the colorful pit viper. “Why would they do that?”

He shrugged. “I happen to know they’ve had their poison dart frogs stolen at least once.” He was looking their enclosure over extra carefully. “There are sensors around the edge of the glass now. I’m surprised he chose to get to them that way. Breaking the glass is so noticeable. It’s definitely the sloppier method.”

Jack nodded, as if this information wasn’t mildly terrifying. She looked back at the pit viper. “Okay. So, if you were gonna steal this one to like harvest its poison or something, how would you do it?”

Yassen looked briefly at the pit viper. “If I wanted its venom, I would take that from the storage units in the back of the building. Zoos often harvest venom themselves for use in making antivenom. If I wanted the snake, maybe as a pretty gift...” That smirk should have been illegal. Jack crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “I would just pretend to be an employee here and take it during closing time as if I were going to be doing veterinary work.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard.” She knew he’d glossed over the details- he’d need an ID card and a way to convince the zookeepers he was actually supposed to be there, not to mention a way to handle the snake without getting bit. She also knew these were the kinds of details he wouldn’t consider difficult, even though they would be insurmountable to others. 

“It isn’t.” He held out a hand for her. “You said you wanted to see the penguins next?”

She took his hand and swung it between them. “Yeah. Maybe you can steal me one of those instead. We can be like the guy in that book, Mr. Popper.” 

“Do you want a penguin?”

“I want so many penguins. I want a whole penguin flock.”

“We would have to make the flat very cold.”

“Oh, that’s a good point.” She bumped her shoulder into his. “How about a giraffe then?”


	4. Stargazing

They’d had to leave the city for the view, but it was worth it. Jack pulled the fluffy coat closet around herself and brushed her hair out of her face. The wind kept messing it up, but the night was too pretty for her to care too much about that. Besides, she had the perfect view. 

With her head resting on Yassen’s thigh she could see not only the stars but the line of his jaw while he looked up at them to pick out the specific heavenly bodies she pointed out. 

“That bright one there is Altair,” she said, as loudly as she dared to in the soft quiet of the late fall evening. “See, in the Aquila constellation.” She traced out the shape of the eagle in the stars above. “And that one, across the Milky Way is Vega. She’s the brightest in the Lyra constellation!”

His answering hum was so soft she almost didn’t hear. “I don’t see it?” 

He was lying, of course. He was one of the most observant people she knew. “That one, there, by Cyngus.” 

Her hand brushed the side of his face as she pointed at it. She could feel the corner of his lip turned up in a smile. “Oh, that one, yes.”

Jack lay still for a moment, struck by the dazzling expanse of stars and the feeling of only being tethered to her planet by the frail grasp of gravity. And Yassen’s arm draped across her stomach. 

“She?” 

Jack tore her eyes away from the night sky to see Yassen giving her a questioning glance. 

“Sorry?”

“You called the star ‘she.’”

Oh. So she had. Jack settled back down and traced the path between the two stars with her finger. “Yeah, Vega was a girl in a story. The story changes from version to version, in some she’s upper class, or the daughter of an emperor, or even descended from gods. Whichever it is, she fell in love with a cowherder, Altair. Their families weren’t happy about it and separated them, keeping them apart forever on opposite sides of a great river. The Milky Way.” 

The story was one of her aunt’s favorites, and was always the last one she told Jack before they had to put away the telescope and go to sleep. Jack wondered how she was doing now that she’d moved to the city, with its ever changing artificial glow. Maybe she missed the stars, or maybe she’d learned to think of the lights of the city as stars in their own right. 

The story struck a particular chord with her now. She was hardly a princess, but she was a normal person dating a very wanted criminal. She could hardly imagine her family accepting her choice, given how well took her significantly less frightening choice of staying in Londen. Not that she’d ever paid too much mind to what they wanted for her. 

On the other hand, Yassen was legendary in some circles, and she was no one. It wasn’t hard to imagine the kinds of people who would blame her for his early retirement. She shuddered slightly and snuggled closer. 

Yassen’s hand closed over hers protectively as she brought it back down, almost as if he knew what she was thinking. “Forever is a long time.”

“Yeah. It is.” Jack felt the first tug of tiredness on her eyelids. Stargazing would have to be over soon. “But they get to be together sometimes, because once a year birds form a bridge over the river just for them to meet.” She ran her thumb over the rough pads of Yassen’s hand holding her own. “I think that makes up for it.”


	5. Puzzles

Dusting off the boxes of puzzles in the cabinet was more emotional than Jack expected it to be. They hadn’t been touched since before Ian died, since before MI6 had practically stolen Alex and turned her life upside down in the process. 

It was still calming to pull one out now, to open the box and dump the pieces on the table, to sort through them almost mechanically into like piles and pick through for obvious matches. She felt a little nostalgic. It was probably unreasonable to be nostalgic for a time that was less than a year ago, but things were relaxed and peaceful in her life, and hadn’t been that way for a while.

Normally she’d wait to open a puzzle until she could play it with Alex, though now he was in his room playing a video game. The upbeat sound of the Animal Crossing soundtrack drifted from his room down the hall, mixing strangely with the classical music she had on. Recently he’d favored lighthearted games with low stakes as opposed to older favorites like Call of Duty. It was an impulse she understood. 

Jack didn’t notice Yassen until he was right behind her, his hands gently brushing the hair out of her eyes, though she didn’t know if it was because he was quiet or because she had the music playing too loudly. She turned slightly, pulling him into a half hug. “Hey.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Hello, Miss Starbright.”

She let him go and he sat down across the table from her. He glanced at the puzzle spread across the table before turning his attention back to her. She went back to picking through the pieces again, a smile still playing across her lips despite the slowly growing worry in her mind. “So, where have you been?”

For a moment she thought he might lie to her, or brush the question away the way that Alex brushed off her worries about injuries he’d hidden from her after getting back from his first few missions. She’d gotten good enough at reading their body language to know the particular kind of stress that spy work entails. 

Maybe he knew that. “I’ve been checking old dead drops. Making sure they’re all still empty.” 

She might have deduced the truth was something in that vein, but it was startling to hear the admission. She’d been denying they might not be out of the woods yet, clinging tight to the idea that as long as the three of them were together the world that belonged to Yassen and Ian, and now Alex, couldn’t hurt them. “And were they?”

“For now.” 

Jack let a small breath of relief escape her as Yassen’s hands joined her own in snapping puzzle pieces together. Empty dead drops wasn’t a guarantee of safety, but it was something. It did nothing to solve the new problem that had presented itself though. 

She considered whether she should ask, but she couldn’t not. “What would you have done if they weren’t?” 

“I hadn’t decided.” 

If trouble came knocking, there were really just two choices, run or don’t. Staying meant that anyone looking for him would know just where he’d be, and probably that Jack and Alex would be with him. There would almost definitely be a fight of some kind. It was the more dangerous choice by far, and really wasn’t feasible for them. On the other hand, she didn’t want him to go. 

“Then it’s a good thing it isn’t a problem yet.”

The picture was starting to come together, just barely enough to make out a sunset beach with sand that hadn’t been disturbed by human feet. Jack wished they could go there and just be away from everyone. Maybe it would give them more time. 

“It will be a problem eventually.” 

Of course it would be. But just because this couldn’t last didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it. “Alright. Then we’ll figure out what to do eventually. I’m not gonna let our future problems take away the good we have right now.” 


	6. Chapter 6

Hiking had sounded like a great idea, until Jack remembered that she was a foot shorter than Yassen and that whatever ungodly exercise regime assassins kept was definitely more intense than Zumba. He was obviously going slower than he’d like to have been, trying to match some definition of casual, but she was struggling to keep up. 

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to stop and rest for a bit?” 

She didn’t look up to see how far ahead he was. “Nope! No, I’ve got this!” She definitely did not have this. 

She could have asked him to slow down, but she hated feeling like the one person in their almost-a-family that needed allowances. There was no doubt if Alex were here he’d be keeping up just fine. 

And maybe it was ridiculous to compare herself to them, but she couldn’t help it. Her friends were starting to leave her out of group plans, and she desperately struggled to hold a conversation with new people she met. As much as she tried to cling to it, ‘normal’ was rapidly becoming inapplicable for her. She was too paranoid to take places, too quick to cut off anyone who even slightly frightened her to introduce to people, and too secretive to hold a conversation with. Alex and Yassen were the only people who understood that, and the only ones she could talk to and expect to be believed. 

Lost in her thoughts, Jack barely noticed the upturned tree until her foot caught on an exposed root and the ground rushed up to greet her.

Just as suddenly, she wasn’t falling anymore. Two strong hands on her shoulders pushed her back upright. Jack blinked. So Yassen hadn’t been that far ahead. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m totally fi-” Jack stopped short as she shifted her weight onto her ankle. Okay. So,  _ fine  _ might have been a slight exaggeration. “Yeah, totally. Peachy.”

“You don’t lie well.” 

“...I’ve been told.”

Yassen pulled her arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go back down. Hiking’s boring anyways.” 

She couldn’t argue with that. It had been so pretty here a month ago with all the beautiful fall colors, but the trees were mostly bare now. Her ankle was starting to throb now. She had to lean a lot on Yassen, and a few tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

He noticed. “Do you think you can walk back?” Of course he noticed, this is what she got for deciding to go out with one of the world’s foremost assassins, a boyfriend who couldn’t mind his own damn business.

“Yes.” Jack’s throat was getting tighter now and she didn’t know how to explain that it only had a little to do with her foot. “I can walk. I just-”

He stayed quiet as they picked their way carefully down the path. Jack nearly slipped on a loose patch of dirt and his hand tightened around her waist. 

She was really crying now, and he stopped to pull her into a hug. Her red hair hung in her face and she was sure she was a complete mess. “I just- I’m not anything anymore, ‘cause ‘m too weird for normal people, and not tough enough to keep up with you, ‘cause I know Ian and Alex wouldn’t have gotten taken out by a damn tree, and-”

“Jack.” 

She quieted, still crying. There was a hand rubbing gentle circles on her back. She tried to match her breathing to Yassen’s much slower pace. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before continuing. “You don’t need to be anything. You’re already yourself. You’re brilliant and determined and one of the only truly good people I know. Normal people aren’t ever going to understand us, but they don’t have to. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you never need to be tough enough to keep up with me. Okay?” 

Jack nodded. “Okay.” Her voice was still wobbly, and she knew her leg would be too if he let go of her. She buried her face in his chest and balled her hands up in his shirt.

“Okay. Do you want me to carry you back to the car now?”

She nodded. Yassen hooked an arm under her leg and pulled her up to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. It was a bit scary being off the ground in an area she knew wasn’t the safest to walk on, but she trusted Yassen not to drop her. 

“Still pouting?”

Yep. This is what she got. “...Maybe.”

“Want me to tell you about the time John tripped over a kettle?”

“...Maybe.” She wrapped her arms around him a little tighter and fit her head into the groove of his neck. Maybe hiking wasn’t completely horrible after all. 


End file.
